Joe O'Toole (Independent)

On a similar issue to the urgent matter raised by Senator Brian Hayes I would like to draw the attention of the House to No. 23 on the Order Paper. It has been on the Order Paper for approximately 18 months even though it was introduced as a matter of urgency. We were told it followed from a need to deal with this matter with great dispatch and we established a joint sub-committee.

I wish to refer to the process without getting into the details of the case it deals with. When we set up the sub-committee we were told it was a matter of urgency and I said that the sub-committee would be left to carry the can. The members of the sub-committee are hard-working and have given much time to it. No doubt there are difficult circumstances but I am not interested in that. I want to know where we stand with it. What was the rush about and what has happened in the meantime? Can we get a formal report from the sub-committee on what is happening?

The sub-committee will be blamed for the fact that we did not have legislation in place, as we were told six years ago, to deal with this type of issue. We had possible legislation before us but we did not deal with it. How long will this go on? What will happen if it is not dealt with before the election? This is purely a process issue. One can hardly establish another committee after the election. It raises issues of double jeopardy. Justice delayed is justice denied.

We had better face up to this issue. We have got it completely wrong. Some other method should be found to deal with it as it is going nowhere.